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Judge's Ruling On A's A Win And Loss For San Jose

Publication Date:

October 11, 2013

Source:

San Francisco Chronicle

Author:

Bob Egelko

Stanford Law Professor William B. Gould weighs in on the city of San Jose's attempt to challenge Major League Baseball's exemption from anti-trust laws in an article by The San Francisco Chronicle's Bob Egelko.

A federal judge, invoking baseball's long-discredited but legally entrenched exemption from antitrust laws, has batted down San Jose's attempt to lift the major leagues' blockade on the Oakland A's move to the South Bay.

But U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte's ruling Friday kept part of San Jose's suit alive, a claim that Major League Baseball interfered with its contract with the A's by delaying a vote by club owners on relocating the team. That portion of the suit seeks only monetary damages, but a lawyer for the city said it might give San Jose leverage to finally bring Commissioner Bud Selig to the table to negotiate a move.

...

William Gould, a Stanford law professor who has written extensively on sports law, disagreed.

"I don't think the prospects are good" for an appeal, he said. "This court, in countless ways, is all about the business of protecting business."